O’Hare May Get an Underground, High-Speed Rail to the City, Thanks to Elon Musk

Getting to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) is a real pain. It's at least an hour's drive outside the city center (on a good, traffic-free day), and an Uber will cost you $50, minimum. You'll be on public transport for about the same time as a drive—the L's blue line runs directly to ORD for $2.25 one-way. But Elon Musk's not-so-boring Boring Company is set to change that: it received approval today from the city to build the Chicago Express Loop, an underground electric shuttle system that will get you from the Bean to the airport in just 12 minutes—once built, of course.

The tunnel will not be a 700 mph, city-connecting hyperloop, but the electric shuttles will travel at more than 150 mph, reports the Washington Post. The Chicago Express Loop will use technology that the company has been piloting in a tunnel under L.A. to circumvent traffic, using glass-enclosed rooms that look a bit like upside-down Tupperware containers on battery-powered wheels—what Musk calls an "electric skate"—to carry eight to 16 travelers.

The imagined Block 37 station in downtown Chicago would connect to O'Hare's new terminal.

Courtesy The Boring Company

Cost is, obviously, an issue here, both in terms of cost to the city and cost to riders looking for the fastest way to get to the airport. The good news: A ride will only run you between $20 and $25, according to the Chicago Star Tribune. As for the cost of the project? City mayor Rahm Emanuel says it will cost $0 taxpayer dollars. Instead, the $1 billion Express Loop will be paid for by the high-speed transit's fares and advertising, Emanuel told the Star Tribune. "Here’s a guy in two different other transportation modes who has taken huge risks—not only economic, [but] reputational. We’re gonna bet on those two things and that track record in this next step with no money and all upside. … That’s a pretty good pay-off for us, vs. zero dollars from the public," he said.

There's no news yet as to when construction will start or when the loop will officially open, as the company needs to figure out where the system will go—and then get permission to put it there. It may be awhile: O'Hare's $8.5 million expansion and new terminal, where the shuttle will arrive, need to be built first. In the meantime, guess we'll see you on the L?